Fear of the Dark
by Deztructive
Summary: A short story set during the clone wars. Shut off fromt the troops under her command and effectivley robbed of her sight, Jedi General Jessiri Hatol must fight a battle the odds say she will not win. original character


Fear of the Dark

All that followed the violence of the separatist grenades was the almost peaceful pitter patter of falling debris as silence tried to reassert itself in the blackness of the cave she was now trapped in.

For all the possible warnings and feelings of doubt, wrongfulness and a growing danger she had pressed on further and further into the cave in pursuit of her enemies. It could have been a trap but her confidence in her abilities had spurred her on. There were only a handful of droids and a pair of separatist handlers, who she sensed were Human.

They had led her on into the darkened labyrinth until finally they had chosen the place of their stand. A flash of warning was all she had received before the flash-bang had gone off followed by the heavier whumpf of a concussion grenade. She'd instinctively thrown up a cushion of the force to protect herself but the flash of intense light from the flash-bang had rendered her blind to her surroundings. With her sight gone her awareness of the force increased as her mind reacted to its loss. Gathering the force to her she sent out a wave of sense to her surroundings.

Instantly she found the handlers, glowing echoes of their physical forms appearing in her force sight. She could also make out the dim electrical sparks of seven droids in a loose circle around their masters. She sensed fear from, but also a grim determination and a confident hope. They thought they had beaten her. Master Biros would be displeased with her sudden defiant thoughts and the flash of anger underlying them. She reigned in her feelings. And stood, a little shakily, using the cave wall to steady herself. She imagined her former master's words following the time she had last shown her temper.

"Jessiri Hatol. Be mindful of your feelings." He had shouted as she stood over the whimpering criminal she had thrown from his seat using the force. He'd been a petty gangster on a backward planet. A slaver if she remembered correctly, a particularly stubborn slaver. Hence the momentary lapse in her concentration.

"Your temper is the first step down a path you would not want to tread. Control it as you would a speeder bike." He'd finished. He'd always said that subtlety was a far swifter weapon than force, she mused.

A warning in the force nudged her from her memories back to the present. She stepped to the right the heat from a blaster shot passing closely by. They were taking pot shots. Obviously they could no more see her than she them. She considered igniting her lightsaber, but decided against as its light would hand them the advantage. Instead she crouched and began to sneak around an out cropping of rock to her right. If she could circle round them she could perhaps find a way of stopping them. It was hardly a solid plan but if they were firing away from her she would have the time to come up with a better one.

She wrapped herself in the force. They would not hear her.

Moving swiftly she reached a position behind the enemy troops. The time to strike was now. A vague plan was forming in her mind. She would have to remove the droids first. She reached through the force, tiny tendrils of intent snaking away from her. Her sense of each droid was of an electrical spark of power at their core. She expanded each tendril around that core and then tightened the grip. The audible snaps and pops of the droids power units being crushed filled the empty darkness followed soon after by the clattering of droids hitting the cavern floor. The fear within the two handlers increased as they realised their defences were down. They began shooting at randomly, aiming towards the rock fall thinking that she would still be there. She moved slowly towards them her steps muffled by the force.

Suddenly she kicked a loose pebble which skittered away from her. Instantly they turned and began firing in her direction. Her lightsaber was in her hand and ignited in seconds. She fell into a defensive from intended to protect from blaster fire. Without her sight there would only be the force to guide her hand. She batted several blasts away and began to advance. The Handlers impressions in the force glowed like beacons as brightly as the blue blade of her lightsaber which as yet she could not see. Her sight was till filled with the bright white corona of the flash bang.

A blast got past her defences and singed her left arm. She registered the hit but put it out of her mind. The next blast to come was redirected back towards its sender.

Tit for tat, she thought briefly before catching herself and subconsciously chiding herself for thinking it. The glowing echo vanished as the handler s life left him. The sense of desperate fear was practically oozing of the remaining enemy. She crossed the few remaining steps and removed the blaster along with the hand firing it from him. He cried out. It was a howl she would never forget.

She retrieved a pair of restraints from a pouch at her belt and tired his arms and legs. His wail had subsided t o a quiet sobbing. Despite the fact that moments ago he'd been trying to kill her, she felt a true pity for him. She'd heard of some of the methods used to extract information from prisoners. She honestly pitied this man. However he may have information so ending his life was not an option, however merciful.

The prisoner restrained she found a rock to sit against and waited for hr troops to find her.

*********************

Hours later the scrapes and scratches of digging equipment and rocks being moved emanated from her left. She could sense the energies of her troops. She couldn't tell how far they were from breaking through, though she knew it would not take them long. What could have been hours or only minutes later she heard a boulder being moved fairly close to her It was followed by the sound of combat boots crunching over loose gravel moving ever closer. A sudden realisation hit her.

"General Hatol. Are you Ok?" Despite the identical voices of the clones she knew it was her second in command, Commander Dash. He was one of the few people who actually pronounced her surname correctly, with the silent H.

"I'm fine commander, at least I think so. Are we under fire Commander?"

"No Ma'am. Aside from the group you were pursuing, the enemy has been completely routed. "He replied sincerely.

"So why are you operating without lights." She asked, a little confused an underlying sense of wrongness filling her mind. She knew that the clones could operate in compete darkness thanks to an infra red setting in their helmets but if they weren't under fire, then what, Oh No, She thought.

"Dash, I can't see. " She began, panicking.

"General?" He replied, a little confused.

"I didn't think to check before you arrived, and I wasn't sure how long the effects of a flash-bang lasted." She stated, murmuring.

"Four to five seconds, though the Seps have been known to use flash-bangs with a minutes effectiveness."Interrupted Dash in a matter of fact, almost educating tone. The sudden panic that erupted in her, took over.

"Dash, I'm blind. " She said, practically screaming at him. A shuffle of material and armour plates scraping indicated he was turning to his fellow clones.

There was suddenly a burst of activity; Dash pulled her to her feet. She let him she could walk unaided but the disorientation of finding herself blind was too much. Gravel was replaced by soft grass and the echoes of a cave were replaced by the sounds of troops moving and LAATI Engines starting up she knew she was back outside. Even her force senses were off.

Dash led her forward and helped her into. In the light He could obviously see whatever was wrong with her eyes as through the force there was a sudden feeling of surprise which was quickly subdued as his professionalism took over.

The onboard medical droid had also gotten involved. She felt the slight prick as it injected a sedative.

All she could hear as she slipped into unconsciousness was;

"Took a flash-bang at close range....." Dash.

"Both Retinas... overexposed...no treatment." The Medical droid.

"Fier...Fek......" Jessiri Hatol, just before she passed out.


End file.
